So a year or two ago I got a tattoo on my left wrist. It is small, in black ink, and written in Sanskrit (The word is “impermanent.”) For those who don’t know, Sanskrit is an old and dead language used in ancient India to record a lot of Buddhist teachings, among other things.
I went back to the old home town and was showing my uncle (by marriage, I swear, and the kid’s only 25) this tattoo. The following conversation ensued:
Him: “What’s that on your arm?”
Me: “It’s a tattoo. It’s Sanskrit.”
Him: “What, is that some kind of Taliban bullshit?”
Me: “No, it’s an ancient Indian language. I guess you might think of it kind of like Latin in that a lot of old religious texts are written…”
Him: “Whatever, I don’t care. It’s not American, that’s all that matters.”
Now I’ve heard a lot of really stupid shit in my lifetime, but this one takes the cake. I can’t fault anyone for having never heard of Sanskrit–it’s kind of obscure–and I’m certainly no expert on ancient languages or Buddhist texts myself. But to equate an ancient Indian language with middle-eastern terrorism on the grounds that they must be inferior and unimportant because they aren’t “American” --now that takes some willful ignorance.
So here is your opportunity to report the most ignorant thing you’ve ever heard. Sorry… no quoting of politicians allowed… it would just be too easy.
Sanskrit is obscure? I first heard of it as a child in a Donald Duck comic. I mean, I wouldn’t expect a random person off the street to be able to tell me details or quote Sanskrit poems or anything, but I’d expect them to know that it was a language from India.
In pretty much the same vein, about learning foreign languages in school: “If English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good enough for me!” (well, not exactly what the dude said – but we all know this saying and what he was spouting was close enough.) And this was from a college student; I shit you not… :eek: :mad:
Heard this when I was in college for a year in the US. What made it especially funny was that I was (eventually…) able to prove to him, conclusively, that I would have been far more capable of conversing with Jesus than he would have been… (I’m Israeli, so a native Hebrew speaker)
Og forbid what would have happened if I had said what I think – that in some cases it should be acceptable to teach kids in a foreign language! I think all the RedNeck-meters in the county would have exploded…
I’m not the OP, but I’d have to say… “No; too easy.”
Oh, and don’t get me started about all the Creationists who have ever asked me if I can actually trace my ancestry back to an Orangutan… (makes sense in my case, given my hair color)
I’m not sure if this is ignorant or just stupidity, but I and others on a sci-fi forum got into an argument with a poster who was complaining about the character Honor Harrington; his contention was that no woman could win a fight with a man under any circumstances.
My and the other posters reaction boiled down to “Dude ! She’s a genetically engineered heavy worlder with enhanced strength, speed and reflexes, decades of training and a gun built into her artificial hand !”
His response : “Doesn’t matter, a woman can’t win a fight with a man.”
Der Trish, I realize it’s a completely different context, but I’ve been told many times on internet games that I can’t be a girl rl. I “tank too well” (the tank is the player in a group that takes most damage while others work on hurting the enemies or keeping said tank ‘alive’), I fight too well, I win duels with other players, I play too well. Yeeeees dear.
My first table RPG (20 years ago next fall, I’m so old!) involved a referee who claimed that “girls can’t be fighters”. One of the other players asked if the ref wanted “to meet my sis, the taek-wondo blue-belt?”
For reasons that I don’t entirely understand, I hang out on a few creation/evolution debate sites. The answer to ‘What’s the most ignorant thing you’ve ever heard?’ changes almost by the week; just when you think you’ve heard the one to out-stupid it all, another one comes along that is even more stupid.
Recently, I was told:
Nope, there’s just no force that ever acts to pull things toward each other. Nope, can’t think of a single one.
Only distantly…
(Actually, not at all You see, the truth is, my great-great-grandfather was a Chimpanzee. We only *say *he was an Orang because, otherwise, what will people think?)
I can give you the ignorant/offensive twofer. While my wife and I were living in Alabama, she would tell people (when they asked) that she used to work at the World Bank. One reply she got: “Oh, honey, I used to be a teller, too!”
I cheerfully invite this person to Michigan. They can witness this mysterious and heretofore undiscovered force firsthand. They’re welcome to scrape the result off my windshield.
Oh, yes. Here’s something I had thrown at me a few years ago in Reserves -
“You actually think human beings are descended from monkeys!? So where’s your tail?”
The thing was, the man I was arguing was a very nice guy, mid-40’s, deeply religious, whose entire education was probably comprised of 8 years in the Iranian school system. He seemed to be as anguished by my ignorance as I was by his.
Years ago I was a CSR for the phone company in Richmond, VA. I was enjoying a nice conversation with a woman who proudly told me that she was 80 years old. We chatted for a few more minutes and then she dropped the bomb: “Do you know why the doors of Rhodes (the department store) are so heavy?”
I didn’t know and told her.
Her response: “To keep the ni**ers out.”
She really believed that her old frail arms could open doors that mine could not. (I’m speaking literally - not figuratively here).
:mad: